Confused. Heart racing. Legs shaking. NO. The Earth was shaking!
" Hinay! Hinay (slow down)!" ordered Mercy, as chaos ensued.
It was over. Still trembling. Chest pounding. Head pounding. It shook me to my core. Realizing ... I had just experienced my first earthquake.
It was just another morning, another day, another moment in time. But that was before.
Now we rebuild, renew, and remember. Now and again we relive, with the aftershocks and tremors.
Our immediate area and town of Dumaguete City on Negros Oriental, did not sustain any severe damage. However, other islands in the Visayan (central) region, Cebu and Bohol, cannot say the same. The epicenter of the earthquake was on the island of Bohol, where our YAV group had been weeks prior.
The chocolate hills observation deck in Carmen, Bohol. Before and after.
(Photo credit: Abby Kraft & Pat Torres)
And what really made the earthquake real for me, besides experiencing it, was seeing the sacred Santo Niño church in ruins. Then looking at images on my camera and seeing it whole, just as we had weeks prior, on our exposure trip to Cebu.
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/photos/view-damaged-basilica-minore-sto-nino-cebu-church-photo-105353156.html
I continue to pray for all those displaced and affected by this tragedy. And for emergency aid to reach those in need very soon, for the situation is dire. Especially for our host community in Trinidad, Bohol, whom we have not had contact with yet.
Scary how fast things can change...
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